Warm Rain

The warmer weather and thunderstorms are hinting Spring, but I realize it is still January. Thankfully the seed catalogs are beginning to roll in and the plotting can begin. I have been trying to do a bit of Spring cleaning around here, at least inside since it has been a frog strangler out there. I know when the official signs of Spring roll around I will be way too busy to get to most of these chores then.

The little girls were very excited to come outside today, even though they are not fans of getting wet. When they all piled out the door they realized there were puddles everywhere and instead of just walking through them, instead decided they should fly over every. single. puddle! They are not the brightest bulbs but we still kind of like them. The big girls had no issues with coming outside, they love the rain. They are not thrilled that they are not getting the daily clover but that last cold spell got most of it. It won't be long they will be knee deep in the green again. (Do chickens actually have knees?)

Sarah bear is battling being sick. Poor baby has a sore throat, pink eye and an ear ache. I hope she starts feeling better soon AND that she can stay away from her brother. She so hates to miss school. Well, I should keep it short today because it is time to give the Big Blue Bear his shot. Tomorrow I plan to add more to the side bar and maybe even post some pictures. Have a good one!

The countdown has begun...

We are ever inching toward next week when our family will have a celebration. Each year on January 27th we have a party. We like to refer to the event as a D-aversary because it marks the date our son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I know that sounds odd, diagnosed with an illness that has no cure and yet have a celebration to mark the date. Yes. That is the day our son, then only 6 years old, received his first shot of insulin. January 27th is the day our son's life was saved from what only 80 years before had been a certain death.

Our D-aversary consists of the meal we had that night, KFC. We bake a cake and decorate it however Daniel thinks it should be, last year we decorated the cake to look like his insulin pump. We hand out certificates to recognize the hard work and milestones that have been met in the past year, not only by Daniel but by his entire team of family and friends who help him live with this 24/7. We have been known to have a little air guitar and air drums at the party to evoke everyone's inner rock star. We celebrate the life, the precious gift of insulin, the tenacity it takes to live every day when your immune system has disabled your pancreas.

This year is a milestone. This year is 5 years of living with Type 1 diabetes. I feel as though we need a bit more for this celebration. I will be working on ideas for this one because I want to show my son that we appreciate every year, every moment we have been given with him. I have to say that not all tears that I shed on D-aversary day are ones of joy. I am still only a mama, I remember in such vivid detail the events leading up to, the day itself, and the time after. Traumatic really does not come close to describing what a family goes through when a child is diagnosed with an illness that has no cure. When you come so close to losing a precious little one simply because you do not see the warning signs or maybe because you are in denial that they are even there, it changes you. The disease changes your child, your family, your world. I am thankful every single day for this now 11 year old that makes me crazy and for his sisters who do so even more. I can not imagine, nor do I want to, my life without them in it. On that day there was a period of time that I believed I was losing my child to something I did not understand and until he received that first shot of insulin, I was.

Update From the Weekend

On Friday I thought that maybe putting Nelly in with Ducky would be a good idea. Nelly could show Ducky how to be a fighter, not that she wasn't already giving it all she had. It was a bad idea. Nelly trampled Ducky to get to the food and Ducky did not respond to having a box mate. I quickly put Nelly back with her sisters.


It seems Ducky was perfectly content with her horse friend. Saturday morning she took a turn for the worse. I was holding her and talking to her as she passed and letting her know how proud we were of her for trying as hard as she did. We will miss Ducky very much.


The girls in tub one also lost a sister on Saturday morning. She too was a fighter. After I had changed the water over to antibiotics she seemed to be responding. We made sure she ate every couple of hours and got drinks and she was eating much better. I guess we just did not get the medicine in there early enough. The other 15 seem to be doing great and getting wing feathers. There is a runt but she is tough and hangs right with the rest of them. Hopefully the 25 we have left will all do well and thrive now.

Saria is doing great. She is developing her feathers faster than every one else and seems to have that aloof attitude that Zelda continues to have. Her favorite place to be is perched up on the feeder. We must get them a little roosting stick in the tub very soon.

Speaking of Zelda, here she is. She is our biggest, fullest, healthiest bird. Not much seems to phase her really. During the winter months when they were all getting a bit aggrivated by the wet weather she started a bad habit in the group. She started eating feathers and taught everyone else how to pick them out. Now I think we are getting it under control but while everyone else looks worse for wear, Zelda has every feather perfectly in place.

The big girls like to gossip around the feeder. I am sure half of the conversations are about Zelda.

I did get all the posts up for the new chicken run. Woo Hoo.

Hubby got some mowing done on Saturday before the rain. It was a good thing.

We rake up a lot of the cut grass and clover to throw into the run with the big girls. They have so much fun digging through it, keeps them out of trouble.

Miss Sarah had a game on Saturday morning. Ninja boy was there to catch it on film.

Spring was being so wonderful to us. The neighbor's pear tree is all leafed out.

Bushes and flowers are blooming and bringing color to us almost every where you look.

Inside we have Tomato plants preparing for their debut to the garden.

The Artichokes are doing well.

The lettuce is wondering why it is not in the ground yet but it has been so very wet.

On Sunday we caught a glimpse of a Towhee in the yard.

And since it was raining Sarah thought it a good idea to enjoy the rain with some bubbles.

The Countdown

This has been a rollercoaster week. The weather on Tuesday was 80 degrees and now we are experiencing a couple of days with temps in the 30's and 40's. Monday we lost a hen, no signs of why, the day before she was fine and no one else has had any signs of an issue. On Tuesday one of my amazing neighbors broke up my garden spot for me with his tractor. There is no way the tiller would have touched this plot because in the past it had horses on it so the ground was pretty packed. This was perfect timing because now with the cooler weather it should kill off some of the weeds that were in there but it is great because the clover had really gone nuts with the burst of warm weather and so now that is buried up in the soil. I plan to spread some composted horse manure across it before we till it in which should help really prepare the soil for planting. I am giddy with Spring on it's way, only a little over a week til it is officially here.

Daniel's blood sugars always get crazy with the changing of the seasons, the last couple of days have been absolutely nuts. Usually Spring brings many lows for him but he has been going through the roof, tricky disease that diabetes just when you think you get it, you realize you don't. He is so thrilled with the idea that baby chicks will be here soon. The kids are really looking forward to getting to know the new babies.

New adventures and Old memories

We are so excited to say that we will be doing the 4H Chick Chain again this year. It went so well last year and has really added so much to our lives that we are looking forward to the next stage. There are a couple of ways that we could go about handling bringing a new flock onto Redbud but we have decided not to mix the flocks. We are building a new hen house and run for our existing layers and will clean, disinfect and rebed the existing building as a brooder unit. Since the babies will not be able to use the run for some time it will give me a chance to correct things I now know I would have done differently and to turn the soil several times for the sun to disinfect.

My first wave of garden seeds should be arriving this week. Now to find someone to break up the garden area for me. We have a tiller but it is ancient and tricky, the first go around on that ground out there needs to be deep like with a tractor. In the meantime I will be starting my seeds in small pots the kids and I are making out of newspaper so that when it is time to transplant we won't have to disturb the roots, we can just put the whole thing in the ground. We have been saving soda bottles, the kind that come in a six-pack of soda. We cut the bottle in two pieces about half way down, set the pot into the bottle and water. Then replace the top half and it creates like a terrarium of sorts to hold in the moisture and warmth.

I love sharing these things with my kids. Daniel is only interested in some parts of it and then moves on but Sarah loves to help and to learn it all. Sarah is eight now so I think when it is time to can our treasures this year I will start teaching her that part too. Some of my most wonderful memories is helping my grandmother garden and can each year. She taught me so many things that many kids today do not get to be a part of. I was never fond of chicken killing day when I was little because those headless beasts would chase you. lol Grandma would set me on the back porch and have me clean gizzards to keep me out of the way, but she did it in a way that made me feel that it was the most important job of the day. The good part was that I learned how to cut up a chicken and just how many meals could come from one bird. =) We always had one goat and once in a blue moon grandma could trade stuff for a calf that we would raise for butcher. The goat was a good friend to an only child, she followed me every step I took and the milk she produced was always a treat. The calf thing got easier as time went on, but in the beginning I made the mistake of naming one and growing attached. Her name was Tinker Bell and she was great. Boy it was hard when I found out her fate but understood that Grandma had a reason for everything she did. Somehow the occasional pig we raised did not cause such an emotional response when it had to say goodbye. Neither did those blasted mean roosters that would flog any and everyone that crossed it's path.

The older I get the more in awe of my grandmother I become. She was such a good provider and worked so hard even with RA and Lupus. She raised her own seven kids as a single mother and then took me in and raised me most of my life as well. She was the person that taught me to fish and even let me keep my first one, even though it was so small it probably would not have been worth cleaning. She taught me how to be a good shopper and careful with money. The first time I bought the groceries alone I was probably about eight or nine years old. She could no longer drive, it was a small town so everyone knew us, she called the store to tell them I was coming and I did the shopping all by myself. I can not even imagine sending Sarah to the store like that now but we did what had to be done then. I wish my kids could have known her, she was not lovey but you knew she loved you by her actions. I guess that was part of her Indian influenced raising, her mama was the same way. She taught me to quilt, how to cook, how to make do, to always be honest and help anyone in need. She taught me about family, community and the love of our country. She believed in me when I did not, she encouraged me when I felt hopeless, she would admit her pitfalls when she saw me go through the ones of my own and she was the one constant rock I could always count on. I miss her every day of the world but I feel blessed to have a part of her in my heart and in my character.

Spring is on the way. I hope that everyone can find the joy even in these trying times. Better days are a comin. =)

Overdue Update

Apologies to you and this blog, I have been neglecting to get posts written and I assure you I have slapped my hands with the ruler for this misdeed. While the posts have been few it does not mean that we are all lazing around and have nothing to say, just the opposite actually.

The family: This month has been busy for the humans on Redbud. Taylor had her 17th birthday, Sarah slept over at a friend's house for the first time ever, Daniel celebrated his fourth D-aversary (the fourth anniversary of his diabetes diagnosis), Taylor had Governor's School auditions (which is huge and nerve racking for her), we had our annual IEP meeting with the school for Daniel's Asperger's, Daniel had his 4-H poster to turn in, there has been much planning for the garden and the chickens going on and the kids have been home on and off from school because of weather. Whew, that is a lot and I am sure I have missed stuff.

The chickens: Those silly girls have been up to some antics. They have not been big fans of the weather, the rain and the cold have them in a tizzy. There was a point when we thought we would have to rename the hen house The Ark and the girls looked a mess because they would not stay out of the rain. We had a few days that were so super cold that the egg laying decreased and I was afraid even with the light on for the 14 hours a day that they would stop, but they plowed through it. It did send one girl into a semi-moult and she got picked on for it. She looked so ragged with her little half naked neck. Then I saw Zelda pulling feathers from the moulting girl and eating them. This can mean one of two things, they are bored or they need more protein. Because of the freezes the amount of greens have been fewer so I figured it was the protein issue. I cooked up a bunch of eggs and fed them, I know it sounds wrong, and they loved them. Voila, protein. One day they got scrambled eggs and another day they got boiled eggs broken up. The shells can be baked and fed back to them for a boost of calcium as well. They will be happy to know that in my garden plans is a plot of ground just for their greens, both for spring and for fall. One thing that was tough during the cold was gathering the eggs fast enough that they would not get too cold, hopefully the worst is over and we can go back to our regularly scheduled collection times.

The dogs: They have a canine apartment of sorts in the barn and they enjoy it. They love to be let out so they can play outside too but this month they have spent more time in the barn than they would choose because of all the rain and cold. One of the spring plans is to fence off half of the area behind the barn and then they can go out when they choose. Dixie is ok to let roam free but Sunny is half border collie and she likes to herd things, like cars. Over all they are happy girls and enjoy the time in the afternoon that the kids go and play with them and give them treats.

Collectively we are all getting excited about spring, the green coming back, the warm days, and starting on the next phase of Redbud.

Happy New Year

I tried to find an answer to the Christmas tree question from the last entry. Why we leave the Christmas tree up until New Years day, seems to be a tradition for a lot of of families but still not exactly sure why. It seems to all be steeped in superstition but these days has morphed more into the tree comes down when people are tired of it or have the time to take it down. It is kind of like the fact that we do not wash clothes on New Years Day. Now myself, I don't buy into too much superstition, but my step-mom has been telling me since I have known her not to do wash on Jan. 1st because someone in the family will die. At this point I just do my wash the day before out of respect for her and it makes her feel better. It is pretty funny how many superstitious tales get tangled into our lives from previous generations and just become the normal way we do things.

Normal seems like a foreign word in our house. I was in the hen house yesterday and one of the girls was in the nest trying to lay an egg. Normally they fluff up real big when it is about to happen and lower their heads. I looked at her and she was a perfect rectangle. Her head was up by the top of the nest and she was sqare! Then the egg came forth and she immediately stepped out of the nest and went to the food. She never stopped to look at it, sit on it, or try to cover it with a few pieces of litter. Those birds are odd ducks. I wonder if there is a bird olympics? Fluffy definitely needs to be entered. If I walk in the hen house with something in my hand, she is jumping to see what it is. I bet she clears a good foot off of the floor, little mexican jumping bean.

We have been looking through the different breeds of chickens and guineas to make our order list for the spring. The kids are excited about the idea of having baby chicks again. The whole brooding process is such a great time and is really helpful in bonding witht the critters so they are easier to take care of later. So far we have decided we want the Lavender and/or Pied Guineas. We want Ameracaunas for several reasons, they make great tinted egg layers and plus they are pretty easy going and friendly. It will be fun to have blue and green eggs. We will order the replacements for our girls, we definitely enjoy the breed and they are dual purpose birds so we will probably get like the red sex link or maybe gold sex link. Taylor wants the Buff Japanese Bantams. They are pretty, and they are small so to have a few as pets would not really be a big deal but then she is going to leave me with them when she goes off to college so we will see. The last question really is if we want to raise some broilers. They would only need to be around for about 7 or 8 weeks so maybe we could raise them in a run while the others are in the brooder, that might work.

So the spring to do list just keeps growing. We will need a second hen house and run, I also want to build a few small chick tractors to move around the property so the girls can enjoy fresh sites while keeping them safe from predators. The breeds we have are not flighty and could not get away from a predator so as much as I would love to turn them loose during the day, it just would not be safe for them. Instead we bring the greens and treats to them. This way they can be moved around and come back to the roost in the evenings. The guineas don't really need anything, they will be free to go where they choose, they are flighty and can save themselves. They can roost in the trees or the loft or on the house. But this will all be happening around the same time as getting those raised beds built and getting the gardens put in.

The little ones have pretty much nailed down the details of their sunflower houses. Yes, two, one for each of them that will be connected by a hall. The houses will be 20' x 20' each. Built of sunflowers and indian corn, while the hall will be grown from broom corn. Yep, we are going to try broom corn this year so I can show the kids how to make a broom, I am not sure if this will be a permanent addition to the garden but we have to do it at least once. We are planning several surprise plantings of unusualness this year for fun. Some of the things I remember my Aunt Hazel always having in her garden and some others that will serve multiple purposes.

2009 promises to be a busy year. My mother in law is moving here, my parents are planning to move here in the late summer, we are expanding our chicken operation, the garden plans are growing by the day, canning will be huge this year and best of all, Blue says this could be the year of the goat. So much to anticipate and be thankful for.

Here are a few recent pics:

Oh MY!

Whew! Christmas is over and here comes the new year ahead. Most of the decorations have been taken down, of course not the tree, not until the New Year is here. I am still not sure why we do that, it is just one of those things that become part of the tradition and you follow it. *Note to self: Find out why we do that*
In the midst of all the Christmas Chaos my dryer died. I was sad for about a minute and a half until I realized that it might not be completely dead. It still ran it just would not get hot. So off came the back of the thing and upon inspecting the heating element it was burnt up. So a new part was quickly ordered online and then we had to wait. Waiting is not something the laundry in this house does very well. It was either too cold or wet outside to hang the clothes on the line so we hung lines across the bedroom. My oldest just shook her head at the hillbilliness (Is that a word? Probably not.) of it all but hey, you do what needs to be done and that is all there is to it. Today the blessed part arrived! Yea! I immediately hooked it all back up, gave it a bit of a spin and voila, heat was made. So, $60 for a part vs. $400 for a new dryer.....we win.
As a family we accumulated quite the stash of games this year for Christmas and boy has it been fun. Sarah got Disney Scene it! for her birthday and Are you smarter than a 5th grader for Christmas, both have been fun and the kids really enjoy playing. We got Yahtzee, which we taught Taylor how to play, Jenga and Pictureka (sp?) Fun, fun and more fun. Blue got a trivia game for the PS3 that has buzzers and it is really cute. Did I mention the "family" got rock band 2? Ok, we all love to play it, but Blue....He holds us all hostage until we play and then keeps saying three more songs until we have done maybe 50. lol He REALLY likes that game. It is good to see him so happy.
The chickens are sooooo mad at me. When it was so cold out we had bought them some Scratch grain as treats in the mornings and evenings because it boosts their body heat. Well the little addicts started holding out for the treats and have slowed on eating the real food, so I cut them off. They are so not happy. They knocked the water over, just for spite. They yelled at me like they were starving to death when the food trays were full. They keep kicking litter into the feed to hide it so I will feel sorry for them, I don't. I threw a hand full of food out like it was scratch and they all went running for it, but when they realized what it was I swear their was some bad words coming from those sharp little tongues. I gave them some greens and went on my merry way, oh I dread the wrath of tomorrow.
Well, in the immortal words of Scarlet, "I'll worry about that tomorrow." Have a great night.